Yellow Sheet Report

In his inauguration speech, Ducey warned that his budget won’t meet general approval among special interests, and his budget delivers on that promise. The new governor proposes a $9.09 billion budget for FY16, and aims to structurally balance the books by FY17.

A cursory look at the spending priorities of school districts and charters adds interesting context to the debate on Ducey’s Classrooms First Initiative, a proposal to put more money into the classrooms.

When Ducey’s “Classrooms First Initiative” 11-member council starts “scrubbing” the funding formulas to find new ways to get more money into the classrooms, the first thing it will find is that Arizona’s percentage of total spending on building and campus operations, food service, counselors, nurses, librarians and other support services is way above the national average.

Rebecca Gau, executive director of the education advocacy group Stand for Children, said she believes Ducey’s proposal to open up unused school facilities could benefit both district and charter schools, though she said a lot will depend on the details.

In his first state of the state address, Ducey announced plans big and small to make Arizona the best place in America to work and to do business. The details of how he will achieve that goal will likely be included in his budget, which he will unveil this Friday.

Less than two weeks ago, former LD30 GOP Chairman Timothy Schwartz told Politico that the efforts by McCain’s camp to wrest control of the Republican Party infrastructure away from grassroots activists would lead to retaliation.

Douglas agrees with Huppenthal’s conclusion that Tucson Unified School District is violating a 2011 law prohibiting ethnic studies that promote the overthrow of the US government and resentment toward a race or class, but the new schools chief struck a far more conciliatory tone.

Lovas wants to make it more difficult to amend Arizona’s constitution, but first he’s got to convince voters that it’s the right thing to do. HCR2001 (constitutional amendments; 60 percent approval) would place a question on the 2016 ballot to amend the Arizona Constitution so that, in the future, constitutional changes would need the approval of at least 60 percent of voters.

Ducey’s speech was well-received by GOP lawmakers. There weren’t any surprises, but Republicans were optimistic about the tone and direction he set for his administration. “Obviously, he’s outlining a vision, and next week we’ll hear more specifics.